Product Description

New in paperback, from the bestselling author of Hyperspace, this spellbinding book brings together the cutting-edge research of today's foremost scientists to explore the science of tomorrow. Michio Kaku describes the development of computers and artificial intelligence, reveals how the decoding of the genetic structure of DNA will allow us to alter and reshape our genetic inheritance, and observes how quantum physicists are perfecting new ways of harnessing the matter and energy of the Universe. Visions is an exhilarating adventure into the future of our planet and ourselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #217682 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 415 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Take it easy: that's Michio Kaku's motto. Given the extraordinary advances science has thrown up in time for the millennium, the only way you could possibly fit them into a single volume is by a correspondingly massive simplification.

Subtitled "How science will revolutionise the 21st century and beyond" Visionsassumes that by and large scientists get to do whatever they like, that all technologies are consumer technologies and that consumers welcome anything and everything science throws at them. Kaku gets away with this frankly dodgy strategy by dint of sheer hard work. He has based his predictions on interviews with more than 150 renowned working scientists, he integrates these interviews with a huge body of original journalistic material and above all he roots that mass of information on an entirely reasonable model of what the purpose of science will be in the third millennium. Up until now, science has expended its efforts on decoding most of the fundamental natural processes--"the dance," as Kaku puts it, of elementary particles deep inside stars and the rhythms of DNA molecules coiling and uncoiling within our bodies". Science's task now, Kaku believes, is to cross- pollinate advances thrown up by the study of matter, biology and mind--modern science's three main theatres of endeavour. "We are now making the transition from amateur chess players to grand masters," he writes, "from observers to choreographers of nature." Then again, he also believes that "the Internet...will eventually become a "Magic Mirror" that appears in fairy tales, able to speak with the wisdom of the human race." Kaku, in short, deserves a good slapping--but he also deserves to be read. --Simon Ings

New Scientist
"highly accessible and readable"

Review
If you only read one book about the 21st century, this is it (Focus )

highly accessible and readable (New Scientist )

Customer Reviews

Good but dated
A fascinating book, which gets better the futher away from the present it goes. Unfortunately being writen around 5 years ago some of the modern predictions seem dated. Still worth a read.

You simply must read this book...
Rarely have I found a book where the subject matter is so intriguing that I simply couldn't put it down. Kaku presents such a well thought out and expertly written vision of the next century that is hard not to believe. Obviously much is extrapolated from current trends in science and technology, but the book is well worth reading merely to get an insight into the developments currently underway. Read this book - you won't be disappointed.

A Window to the future
If you want to have a feel of what the future will be... try this book. Apart from a few scientific terms, Kaku provides some good examples and relates very well to real world--our everyday life.